Yo Unregistered: Join us for the April 1 meeting when it will be Recovery night. We will have demonstrations working with winching, recovery and spotting. We will meet at 7:30 p.m. at Jefferson County Fairgrounds (not Stevinson Toyota but nearby).

My group 31 blue top optima fit easy but after reading reviews of the new optima's I would not go down that road again. Mine is an older made in USA battery. Its been working strong 4 years now. I guess the new ones are made in Mexico and suffer from poor quality control.

My next (2nd) will either be the Die Hard Marine group 31 or a Deka Intimidator group 31.

Thanks Guys,
I just read a ton of posts about the Group 31 Diehard, and the great experiences people have with them.. i did not realize they had so many cold cranking amps, and had such a long reserve.. the small amount of trimming on the 3 fins that was needed to shoehorn it in seems well worth it... I also found the Deka was using the same technology... so whichever of the 2 i get the better deal on will go in!!! Thanks again!

I picked up the DieHard Marine Battery, Platinum PM-1 - Group Size 31M. My friends mother get's a good discount on Sears stuff (worked there for over 20 years), so i had her pick it up for me. Trimmed the 3 Fins per the threads on Ih8mud, and it droppes in like a champ, real tight fit... Need to make the new bracket, and manipulate the positive wires so they extend to the new positive post...... but it is big (like 70+ lbs), 1150 CCA, and a 3 hr reserve is way cool!

reserve is the most important thing to consider. especially on newer electronic vehicles. i wouldn't go for high ccas. 450cca is factory and they work just fine in this area of the country, so i would stay in the 450 to 750. to get higher ccas, you need more plates. to get more plates to fit in a battery means thinner plates and less acid. acid keeps the battery cool and heat kills batteries. thin plates are more prone to breakage through vibration, which kills batteries.